Some time ago last year, I told you guys about my buddy the FFL who wound up in court. This is the guy that over three-quarters of my guns have been bought through and I have known him for 30 years.
They caught him with an SBR & 6 non-Bulletbutton ARs. Now he did not actually sell any of them or offer any of them for sale to civilians. Also it was entirely legal for him to have those non-compliant weapons, since he was the executive officer of the sheriff's Air Squadron and well-known, and a good portion of his sales was to the law enforcement people who are entitled to own such in California.
He was initially charged with seven felonies, plus numerous misdemeanors related to slight irregularities in FFL paperwork. Most of it boiled down to poor handwriting or some missing signature.
One charge evolved where he had donated a gun to a charity raffle at the Waterfowl Club, but there was a delay and the actual paperwork was eventually processed by another FFL in the same waterfowl Club. The winner never picked up the gun because he failed the background check, and so it was sold off to someone else and my buddy never had a completed record of that final transaction, which had been legally processed by another FFL.
Out of the pile of charges they threw at him every one was dropped except the SBR.
All his guns were locked up in racks and safes, but that SBR was not properly stored. It was hanging on the back of his bedroom door.
So after about $15,000 in legal fees and other expenses, they cleared his FFL & DOJ license, he paid a fine & got sentenced to community service on the improper storage charge.
Unfortunately the City of Fresno decided he's not of good character now, and refused his business license renewal.
He had ordered a gun for a friend and when it came in the guy did not like it. But he'd already paid for it & the paperwork had been processed. My buddy cancelled it all, sold him a different gun, put the first gun in the safe, and eventually sold it to someone else.
This gun never left his shop after it was received except for a test firing at the Rifle Club.
But because it had been sold and unsold and resold on paper, the city said "it's used merchandise."
His license did not cover the sale of used merchandise, but only new.
Normally, you'd think they might just give him a small fine and life would go on, but they took away his business license and he's had to close down shop.
Essentially he is out of a job at 64 years old. The state of California has de-facto run him out of business here. This is happening to FFLs all over the state by the way. They hired a lot of new agents and they are out on "training missions" basically rousting everybody they can find the smallest reason to hassle.
My buddy could open up in a different jurisdiction, but this is where all the business is. He would go broke. His location is gone, his business is ruined & he's destroyed. He's bought a travel trailer and he's going to load up his guns and go hunting.
He's got some serious health problems and I know he may not be back.
And if he shoots himself, you know that the state of California is not going to take responsibility. They're going to blame it on irresponsible gun owners or some BS.
They caught him with an SBR & 6 non-Bulletbutton ARs. Now he did not actually sell any of them or offer any of them for sale to civilians. Also it was entirely legal for him to have those non-compliant weapons, since he was the executive officer of the sheriff's Air Squadron and well-known, and a good portion of his sales was to the law enforcement people who are entitled to own such in California.
He was initially charged with seven felonies, plus numerous misdemeanors related to slight irregularities in FFL paperwork. Most of it boiled down to poor handwriting or some missing signature.
One charge evolved where he had donated a gun to a charity raffle at the Waterfowl Club, but there was a delay and the actual paperwork was eventually processed by another FFL in the same waterfowl Club. The winner never picked up the gun because he failed the background check, and so it was sold off to someone else and my buddy never had a completed record of that final transaction, which had been legally processed by another FFL.
Out of the pile of charges they threw at him every one was dropped except the SBR.
All his guns were locked up in racks and safes, but that SBR was not properly stored. It was hanging on the back of his bedroom door.
So after about $15,000 in legal fees and other expenses, they cleared his FFL & DOJ license, he paid a fine & got sentenced to community service on the improper storage charge.
Unfortunately the City of Fresno decided he's not of good character now, and refused his business license renewal.
He had ordered a gun for a friend and when it came in the guy did not like it. But he'd already paid for it & the paperwork had been processed. My buddy cancelled it all, sold him a different gun, put the first gun in the safe, and eventually sold it to someone else.
This gun never left his shop after it was received except for a test firing at the Rifle Club.
But because it had been sold and unsold and resold on paper, the city said "it's used merchandise."
His license did not cover the sale of used merchandise, but only new.
Normally, you'd think they might just give him a small fine and life would go on, but they took away his business license and he's had to close down shop.
Essentially he is out of a job at 64 years old. The state of California has de-facto run him out of business here. This is happening to FFLs all over the state by the way. They hired a lot of new agents and they are out on "training missions" basically rousting everybody they can find the smallest reason to hassle.
My buddy could open up in a different jurisdiction, but this is where all the business is. He would go broke. His location is gone, his business is ruined & he's destroyed. He's bought a travel trailer and he's going to load up his guns and go hunting.
He's got some serious health problems and I know he may not be back.
And if he shoots himself, you know that the state of California is not going to take responsibility. They're going to blame it on irresponsible gun owners or some BS.
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